


Helping Hands

by tonysleatherjacket



Series: Zalex Prompts [7]
Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 01:41:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14945249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonysleatherjacket/pseuds/tonysleatherjacket
Summary: Alex is sore and hurting after a session of physical therapy so Zach gives him a massage.





	Helping Hands

**Author's Note:**

> You can submit zalex one-shot prompts for me to write in the comments or on my tumblr @tonysleatherjacket

It was late in June, a couple weeks since school had ended and Alex was upstairs with Zach in his room after another exhausting session of physical therapy. They were playing a video game on Zach's gaming console; something that had to do with racing. Although they were away from Alex's parents' prying eyes and Zach had a never ending collection of violent video games, they had gotten used to playing racing games instead. It was a change that had definitely been for the better. After all the real death and violence they'd both experienced in their life, games centered around killing people just seemed too gruesome. 

They were nearing the end of the last lap, and Alex was way ahead of Zach. He was going to win for sure. He grinned, his grip on the controller hardening as his car zipped towards to finish line. He was almost there, until suddenly the pain in his back that had been pretty dull for the last half hour, suddenly flared up and his grip on the controller loosened, his hands leaving the buttons and the controller nearly falling out of his grasp.

He could feel Zach's eyes on him. "Are you alright? Is it your bad hand?" He fought the urge to roll his eyes, Zach was like an always present, overprotective doting mother. 

"No." Alex mumbled, reaching towards his back with his good hand, but where he felt the pain, he couldn't even reach because it was right smack in the middle of his back. His hand inched closer up but he just couldn't bend that way. "It's my back. It feels like I pulled a muscle or something during PT."

Zach immediately shifted closer. "Just now?" He asked, voice dripping with concern, the video game completely forgotten. If this same situation had happened even a few months ago, he doubted Zach would have been so attentive. He probably would have just laughed and beat him at the game. But somewhere along the way their relationship had shifted. They'd been friends ever since his fallout with Hannah, but it was different. Hannah and him had had a real friendship, albeit a short one before he drastically fucked that up. Alex had always been closer to Zach than any of the other jocks and popular kids, but their friendship was still fake in a way. They went to parties together, smoked weed, played video games, and Alex had even gone to a few football, basketball, and baseball games. He told himself it was to see all of his friends, but his eyes always drifted and settled on Zach the most. They talked about girls and how lame other kids at school were. But they didn't talk about the more personal things. They didn't know each other's favorite TV show or music, and they sure as hell didn't know about each other's issues with depression. Because the popular kids just didn't talk about that shit.

Zach and him had started to draw farther apart when Hannah died. He'd just gotten so messed up. It had isolated him from everyone in his friend group. Which was probably for the better since they were all assholes, apart from Zach. But a month after he woke up from the coma, Zach had suddenly reappeared in his life. He was able to remember it pretty vividly. He had just woken up from a nap, and when he looked out of his window it was dark. His mother had knocked on the open door, and his eyes scanned over Zach standing next to her in the doorway. She had told him he had a visitor, as if that wasn't obvious enough. When she went back downstairs, Zach had entered his bedroom nervously. It seemed no one knew how to act around him anymore. Alex had made a sarcastic comment that made Zach grin and he said something back that instantly broke the ice between them. He took a seat next to him on the bed. He told him about how after the car crash he and his father had gotten into over the summer, he had been pretty badly injured. He had taken physical therapy sessions and they'd helped him a lot. Not just physically, but mentally too. Alex's doctor had already recommended him a trainer, but between the hospital bills and regular therapy sessions, there was no way they could afford it. Zach had offered to give him sessions for free and it just turned into a thing. 

"No, ever since we got out of the pool."

Zach gripped Alex's shoulder, hesitating like he wasn't sure what he should be doing in a situation like this. This had happened a few times before, usually after sessions where Zach pushed him harder than normal, but he was usually alone or at home when he had muscle pains like this. A few times his mom had offered to massage him. It always seemed to ease the pain. 

"Shit, Alex, why didn't you say something earlier?"

This time Alex didn't hesitate rolling his eyes. "Because it didn't hurt that bad. All of sudden the pain just flared up now."

"Well, is there anything I  can do?"

"Um." Alex was careful not to look at Zach as he thought about what he wanted to ask him, heat already creeping onto his pale cheeks. "I guess you could, like, maybe massage the area?"

"Massage your back?" Zach questioned for clarification, and _god_ , it just sounded so _weird_. Zach touching him like that, it just seemed so...intimate. 

"Um, yeah." He shrugged, hand falling back down to his lap. "If that's cool with you."

"I mean, if it'll help..." Zach said awkwardly, shifting closer to Alex. Jesus this was awkward.

"It...it helps whenever my mom does it."

"Okay."

Suddenly Zach's strong thighs swiveled and were pressed against Alex's. Warm hands started at his shoulders, fingers rubbing into his skin in a way that made him flush bright red. His thumbs pressed into his shoulder-blades.

"Tell me where it hurts." Zach asked him.

And _jesus_ , it sounded like a freaking porno when the words came out of his mouth. Maybe it was just the way Zach had such a low voice, the way his body was pressed so close to him, large hands moving over him. 

"Um. Farther down." He said in a whisper. "I'll tell you when to stop."

Zach's hands moved slowly, massaging every area as he went. When his hands glided over the part where he ached, he couldn't help but jump at the pain. " _There_." He gasped.

Zach pressed his thumbs into the area, kneading the soft skin, calloused hands pressing firmly against him. It made Alex ache in a totally new way. 

"Does that feel good?" Zach asked against his ear. It made him shiver. 

"Yes." He breathed. 

Zach continued to massage his back, his touch warm and _much_ better than his mother's. Alex couldn't help but lean back into him. Their thighs were touching, and he could feel the heat of Zach's body behind him.

His fingers suddenly dug really deep into him, and it made Alex hiss in pain. But then his touch eased up and he was lightly massaging him once more. Alex couldn't help it as a sensual  _oh_ moved past his lips like a moan. It just felt so _good_. Any pain he still felt was quickly overridden. Zach continued the motions, pressing into his back hard and then massaging lightly over the area to ease the knot of tension. Alex felt lost and transfixed in the moment. His eyes were closed, head leaning back and falling against Zach's shoulder. 

Zach didn't seem to mind, and continued massaging him. When Alex felt his shorts begin to tighten, his eyes snapped open. He thought he could ignore it at first, but the longer Zach's skilled fingers pressed into and against him, the tighter Alex's shorts felt. He froze in embarrassment, body going rigid against his friend.

"Am I hurting you?" Zach's fingers stilled. 

" _No_." Alex swallowed thickly. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. 

"Then what's the problem?"

"Uh..." Alex muttered, leaning forward and shifting slightly. Zach's eyes immediately followed Alex's to his crotch. It looked like he was about to say something, but whatever it was died in his throat. 

Alex begged him silently to look anywhere else, but it was like Zach's eyes were glued to the front of his shorts. 

"I'm so sorry." He groaned pathetically. 

"Don't be." Zach's voice was husky. Their eyes met and Alex closely watched as Zach's tongue darted out to wet his lips. "That's so hot." 

Then suddenly Zach was leaning in and pressing his mouth against Alex's softly. It came as such a surprise, Alex almost pulled away. After a couple of seconds of just awkwardly sitting there, his brain, or _another_ part of his body, seemed to catch up and he kissed back; their mouths fitting perfectly against each other. Alex turned to face Zach completely, and he gripped his back as the kiss deepened. 

It felt like sparks flying before his eyes and he felt dizzy with arousal as Alex scratched up and down his back and Zach's hands pressed against his hips and thighs. Zach parted Alex's lips to poke his tongue through and they found themselves sloppily making out, exploring each other's mouths in a way only horny teenagers did.

When Zach pulled back so they could catch their breath he was met with a whimper from Alex. Zach placed soft kisses to his throat, and he felt Alex's heartbeat quicken at the touch. 

"Does your back still hurt?" Zach questioned against his neck.

"Shut the fuck up and kiss me, Dempsey." Zach laughed and pressed his lips once more to Alex's. 

Yeah, this was _way_ better than the massages his mom gave him.

 


End file.
